1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computer-aided social activities, and in particular to computer-aided interpersonal activities for matchmaking.
2. Description of Related Art
Men and women seek mates for companionship, falling in love, and establishing a happy family. Some are fortunate to obtain a suitable mate by happenstance, but many others experience difficulties and may be unsuccessful. The three main obstacles to obtaining a suitable mate are:                Not having enough opportunities for meeting eligible prospective mates;        Having opportunities for meeting eligible prospective mates, but making the wrong choices in mate selection;        Making a suitable choice of a prospective mate, but failing to initiate a relationship.        
Many commercial and non-commercial initiatives for arranging singles meeting opportunities have promoted singles' parties, bars, cruises, weekends, trips, video introductions, Internet dating, mobile chats, blind dates, and so forth, all of which suffer from one or more of the following drawbacks:                Event attendees are judged principally by superficial first-impressions, which favor only a small minority of men and women; the great majority require a second look to appreciate. As a result, it often happens that relatively few attractive men and women become the prime target of the attendees of the opposite sex, leaving the majority of attendees ignored by one another.        One-on-one first meetings are often disappointing, leading to feelings of awkwardness. Often, the interest of one party may not be reciprocated, leading to embarrassing situations, where one party must reject the other. In some cases, the rejected party may continue to make annoying advances to the other.        Approaching and communicating with a stranger is embarrassing for many people, who are unable to appear at their best under such circumstances.        Women are sometimes offended by the way in which they are approached. Some women also find it difficult to approach men.        Even after a successful first date that created mutual interest for a second date, many people fail to further develop a mutual interest toward intimacy and love. This often happens in spite of having a true potential for becoming a successful couple.        
Many innovators have proposed schemes for presorting singles according to predefined criteria, for introducing them to each other conveniently, and for facilitating the initial interaction, by using the Internet, cellular communication, or sophisticated matchmaking algorithms. Examples for such initiatives are included in PCT publication 00/62266 to Liberman et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,950,200 to Sudai et al.; U.S. patent application publication 2002/0040310 to Lieben et al.; US patent application publication 2002/0160339 to King et al.; PCT publication 01/37232 to Pfeil; US patent application publication 2003/0087700 to Wei; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,951 to Collins. However, currently-available schemes do not provide a comprehensive solution for simultaneously overcoming the three obstacles noted above, by concurrently offering meeting opportunities, helping participants make workable choices, and facilitating the start of relationships.
“Speed dating”, a relatively-new dating method, made an important step forward. It is based on systematically arranging short (3-8 minute) introductory meetings among strangers. An equal number of, say, 20 men and 20 women, register for an event that takes place in a restaurant, a bar or a cafe, around 20 tables. They are identified by name tags displaying only a nickname, with full names and contact details expressly excluded. Participants are prescheduled to have brief meetings with other participants of the opposite sex, to introduce themselves and make an impression. Once the predetermined number of meetings has taken place and many participants have been introduced to those of the opposite sex, an optional conventional party is held. At the end of the event, participants report to the organizers, via a paper form or electronically, which of the parties of the opposite sex they would like to date conventionally, for romantic purposes, platonic friendships or business connections. The organizers then report to the participants, usually the next day, of successful matches, including exchanging their contact details, and participants then call each other and thereafter conduct conventional relationships.
Speed dating eliminates some of the obstacles of the prior dating methods, primarily the burden of unsuccessful first dates, the embarrassment of making a first approach to a stranger, the need to expressly reject others, potential unwanted advances, and the asymmetry between men and women. However, speed dating still suffers from reliance on superficial first impressions, and thus fails to offer the chance to make a second impression, which is so critical for the majority of men and women. Speed dating not only does nothing to facilitate forming a relationship beyond the first mutual introduction, but also misses possible matching opportunities that could result from a second chance within the same group. Take the case, for example, where a man has selected two women, but neither has reciprocated by selecting him. First, he comes away from the event with nothing. Second, he may have overlooked a third woman because of his focus on the selected two. And third, one or both of the two women he originally selected may have developed an interest in him upon a second meeting. In short, speed dating eases the pain in a first meeting with strangers, but does very little to help the strangers in developing interest in each other.
There is thus a widely recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, a means whereby single people can meet and become acquainted with prospective mates in a comfortable setting that is conducive to the proper selection of a prospective mate, which responds to the needs of the majority of men and women who require a second impression for knowing and getting known by each other, which facilitates the forming and growth of solid inter-personal relationships, and which does not have the drawbacks and limitations of present methods. This goal is met by the present invention.